Othrys Arc: Preemptive Strike
Titans Two men walked down the road. One wore white dress clothes and a gas mask, the other was shirtless and had white snake scales. "So what're we here for again Herald?" said the scaled man. "Have you already forgotten Blaine?" said Herald. "We're here to rough up the local guild." He messed with his gas mask. "I hate having to wear this thing when I'm your partner. It's so uncomfortable." "Just deal with it," said Blaine. A young girl ran by him holding a flower. Upon passing him, it immediately died. The girl looked up at him, meeting his gaze. Her skin turned grey and she could no longer move. "Kya!" called a mother. She ran over and tried to move her. "What happened to you?" "Great, you blew our cover," said Herald. "I'm surprised you didn't blow it sooner though, walking around without a shirt on, showing off your scales." He unsheathed the large sword he had strapped on his back. "Alright," said Blaine "let's get to work." "Master Aether, someone's attacking the city!" said one of Dragon Gunfire's guild members. "They're attacking everyone in sight. They're even killing civilians!" Upon this remark Aether's eyes widened. "How many are here?" "Only two, but none of the citizens are able to defend themselves because they don't know magic!" Aether quickly got up from his throne. "Theia! Chase! Come with me!" He grabbed them both by the collar and bolted out of the guild hall. Upon exiting he saw absolute carnage. Bodies were lying all over the ground, entire buildings were corroded away, and everything was on fire. "Who would have the gall to attack the capitol of Fiore?" He saw them, two men; one with white scales, the other with a large sword; slaughtering civilians. "You two handle them, I'll set up an enchantment to protect the civilians!" Aether ran towards the center of the city. "Well lookee here," said the scaly man. "Looks like we stirred up the local guild." "Yeah, I guess I'll get to kill them too!" said the man with the sword with an uncharacteristic smile. "I'm Herald Protista, prepare to meet your end! God Leg!" He moved so fast that the human eye could not see him, in order to strike Chase. Chase creates a barrier around himself with Sky Dragon's Cushion, greatly decreasing Herald's speed as he moves to strike Chase. Even if his momentum wasn't totally killed by the spell, Chase would be able to dodge his attack easily now. He stares at the blonde man, carefully observing the whistle and sword in his possession. "God Leg or not, you won't get anywhere so long as you move through the air," he says, stretching his limbs leisurely. "O strength of arm to cleave the heavens, Ile Arms," His magical energy skyrockets after this, surrounding him in a dark blue aura. He sucks in a large breath, greatly speeding up the particles movement. "Sky Dragons Scorching Roar!" He exclaims, releasing a blistering hot tornado at Herald. Herald began playing his flute, and several giant leeches flew off of his body. They jumped on the roar, draining it of magical energy. By the time it reached Herald he easily cut it with his sword. They then began devouring the magic energy in the air, allowing Herald to more easily move again. "Not bad, but my leeches eat magical energy. Wether it be on a person or in the air. You'll be my next victim." He lifted up his hand and all the leeches began to fly at Chase, following him due to Herald's Telekinesis. Chase pressurizes the air in the flute, preventing air from flowing in or out of the flute, thus producing no sound. This is currently to his advantage, but since he doesn't know what the flute does, it might eventually become a disadvantage. "I literally control the air, and you think I'm gonna let you play a tune? How did you get our of your house, let alone here to kill people, with the severe lack of brain cells that you possess?" He asks, rolling his eyes. Although the loss of his flute puts him at a disadvantage, Herald had already summoned plenty of leeches, and didn't require his flute anymore to control them. The leeches from before began to land on Chase, draining him of his magical energy. Chase blasts most of the leeches away with a large burst of wind, though quite a few still manage to latch on. He surrounds himself in a thin layer of air, which they feast on instead of his own magical energy. This doesn't give him much time, but once they've consumed the air, he has what he needs. He controls the air inside the leeches, causing it to expand and fill their bodies until they explode. Using the opportunity, Herald had used his God Leg to get behind Chase, in order to grab him in a bear hug, and drain his magical energy directly. Chase grunts as Herald attacks him from behind, creating a small sphere in his hands. "Sky Dragon's Vacuum," He announces, and the sphere moves to engulf Herald's head. After he releases the spell, his arm becomes surrounded in fierce winds, and he rams his elbow back, attempting to make contact with his captor. "Sky Dragon's Razor Elbow!" He releases the winds from his elbow in a concentrated blade of air, and because of their close range, it would be difficult to dodge, even if wasn't aimed perfectly. Herald quickly blocked with his sword. Locking blades with Chase. "It appears as though I'm not a good match for you. But I've still got a few tricks left." He spit on Chase, unknowingly placing several small leeches on him. At the failure of both his attacks, Chase swears, wrenching himself from Herald's grip in a surge of anger-induced strength. When Herald spits on him, Chase grimaced, obviously repulsed. "If you wanna play dirty, then I'm all for it," he says. "Elemental Resistances rise. Physical Abilities rise. O indestructible winds of the heavens, Ile Armor. O swift winds that dash through the heavens, Ile Vernier." His magical energy spikes once more, the wind around him kicking up, effectively knocking the leeches off his body, even without his knowledge. "Sky Dragon's Sword Horn," he mutters, launching towards Herald with speed that has more than tripled since the beginning of the fight. The short burst caused him to temporarily disappear from sight, moving to crash into Herald's middle head first. The physical part of the attack alone was probably enough to break the earth if the crater he left in his wake is anything to judge by. The wind he releases at the contact point more than doubles that strength, slicing and crushing whatever it hits with extreme force. Herald managed to block with his sword, but it cracked and broke upon Chase hitting it. Chase sent him reading backwards, skidding across the ground. "Ouch." Muttered Herald as he got back to his feet. He began dusting himself off. "You're really strong. My magic doesn't match up well against you." His psychotic personality had disappeared. A poisonous dart flew towards Chase from behind. The dart is easily stopped in its path, the small sphere he'd made earlier absorbing the poison and preventing any damage to the air, thus forming Sky Dragon's Toxin Vacuum. "Well, of course, it doesn't. What can beat the air? All your attacks pass through the air, and guess who can sense even the slightest changes in the air, from movement, or temperature, to pressure?" Chase doesn't bother answering the rhetorical question himself, not giving Herald time to think about it either, as an immense pressure surrounds Chase's arm. "Sky Dragon's Iron Punch," He says, launching forward with the same speed as before, this time moving to punch the blonde man, the sphere placed directly in front of his fist. As soon as his arm is fully extended, the pressure is released, sending an intense wake of wind and the poisoned air directly towards Herald. Using his God Leg, Herald quickly backed up out of the way of his attack. "It doesn't matter how strong your attacks are if you can't land a hit." Herald quickly jumped to higher and higher locations. Eventually finding himself on a rooftop. Using his God Leg, he began to quickly run away, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. He continued running, and managed to get out of Chase's range for a second, playing his flute, he summoned hundreds of his leeches, having them act as shields. Chase pursues him, carefully avoiding going into the area of the city that hasn't been evacuated. Unfortunately, so consumed with this activity is it that Herald escapes his magical range, playing the flute, which summons more of the annoying leeches. "Sky Dragon's Vacuum!" he announces, surrounding the leeches in sphere of wind. The area inside is drained of ethernano, and while Chase doesn't believe that will kill them, it won't allow them to attack him or get stronger, which will be about as good as a temporary fix gets. "Quit running and hiding and face your demise!" He shouts, and he swings an arm across his body, unleashing a tornado that picks up the leeches in their hold, and launches them miles away. "I'm ready to fight whenever you are," Chase says, panting slightly from exertion, but nonetheless getting into a fighting position, the air surrounding him in a thin but durable armor to boost his strength. Herald smiled. He knew it was only a matter of time before he became too tired to fight properly. That's what his fighting style revolved around. He ran up a wall and jumped off of it, using Chase as a springboard to get to the top of a tall building, in the meantime placing a leech on Chase that he had hidden on his person. Just touching Herald seemed to sap Chase's strength away. "Looks like I'll get the other one. I'm not much for introducing myself to lower life forms, but my name's Blaine Pheles. It's only fitting for someone to introduce them self to whoever they're about to kill." Theia, after carefully observing the fight between Chase and Herald, she analyzed the characteristics of what will now be her opponent. Seeing that behind him lay a path of decaying life and stone cold bodies, she thought to herself, Judging by the scales and snake like appearance, he must have some sort of poison that leaves that path of death behind him. I still don't know what the stone is from...but I am sure I will find out soon enough. With a crack of her knuckles she slowly began to leak golden light from her skin, enraged by the harm these two mages have already brought upon the city. "Well hello there Blaine. And I suppose you are right, it is only fitting to introduce oneself. My name is Theia Zhulong, and I'm here to put an end to the pain you've caused my city." She then coated both her fists in large clouds of golden light that took on the form of claws. Before even fully shifting his attention to Theia, Blaine shot a small dart from his mouth, aimed at Chase. He then began to walk up to Theia, not faltering in the slightest. "Smog." A large cloud of poison exited his mouth, headed towards Theia. "My poison can kill anything. If it wasn't thanks to you Slayers, I could kill anything with this cursed body of mine." Using her arm as a shield, she covers her mouth and quickly uses her magic to create Light Wings that lift her up into the air. Seeing that the gas was heavier than air, she easily evades it's effects, but worries for the others around. "Zeyphrus Whirlwind!" She shouts and moves her hand to create a tunnel of wind that bends and funnels the gas to a nearby area that has already been evacuated thanks to the help of Aether. "That is just one nasty case of halitosis you got there Nagini... oh wait, Blaine! Sorry! You just remind me of a snake in a book I am reading!" She giggles. Seeing that this is her opportunity to take the lead in this fight, Theia sucks in a big breath and channels her magic into her throat. Trying not to damage the city as much, she settled on a midlevel wavelength of light that would still pack a good punch. "Light Dragon Green Roar!" She shouts, as a green colored blast of light shoots towards Blaine with force. Wings sprouted from Blaine's back and he flew out of the path of Theia's roar. He flew up to her and went to grab her by the throat, and look into her eyes. "Be still like stone." Once Blaine was in close proximity to Theia, she smiled. "So it looks like you have an eye magic do you? Well sorry to disappoint you but your little trick won't work. I don't even have to release my magical aura for you to fall under the effects of my Radiant Aura." She then uses the light that was coating her fists from earlier, to drive her arm forward, aiming for Blaine's ribs. "Illuminating Dragon Claws!" As the attack went towards him though, it suddenly corroded, and Blaine easily smacked her hand aside. "So what, my Death Stare won't paralyze you. I prefer playing with my victims first anyways. The Black Death will kill you before long." More poison was exuded from his body. "My mere presence causes anything to decay and die. Imagine if I tried a little harder." He shot a large cloud of poison from his mouth. Seeing that Blaine began to open his mouth, Theia knew it was trouble. She began to transform her body into that of photons, but because it takes her almost six second to fully transform her body, a portion of the poison stung her leg. Fully disintegrating the pants she was wearing and burning her skin before she was able to fully phase into light, Theia cringed as she quickly moved around Blaine to approach him from his rear flank. With a strong flap of her Light Wings, she made enough space in the poison cloud to re-solidify and fire off another punch. "Radiating Strike!" She shouts as she uses infrared light this time, to cover her fist, which gives off scorching heat that can be felt even before it touches Blaine's scales. Before the attack could make contact Blaine let out a roar. It was so frightening, anything within earshot couldn't help but quiver in fear. Seeing the opening, Blaine went to strike Theia with an incredibly powerful punch, aimed to send her crashing to the ground. Faltering from the sudden roar, Theia could feel her body shake with fear for a moment, causing her first punch to move off target. She did managed to use her free hand to bring it forth and protect her body from the force of the incoming punch; hoping that the burning light would at least damage Blaine when he hit. Being pushed down into the ground, Theia disables her Light Wings, and stands up slowly, wiping some dirt off of her jaw. "Very animalistic of you... but I've met much more fearsome monsters than you. Even so, the most fearsome monster lives inside our own minds... and if we let that fear control us, we will never become strong. And so, I will not be scared by some measly parlor trick again; for I have the strength of my guild behind me!" Theia's aura surges as she activates her Light Drive, boosting both her speed and power. Lifting her hand into the sky, she creates a magic circle that spans a couple blocks, "Light Dragon's Radiance." She says in a serious tone, as thousands of golden light needles begin to shower down upon them. Being able to bend the light herself, the needles don't touch Theia, but Blaine can see that as soon as they strike an object they release a small, but powerful explosion. Blaine exuded more poison, weakening the rays that came near him, making it feel like nothing more than several cold raindrops. "You have the power of your guild backing you huh?" Blaine landed on the ground, his wings retracting into his back. His magical energy began radiating a purple aura around him. "Well I have the backing of an entire nation! We came here to deliver two messages. 1) Othrys should not be trifled with, and 2) we've captured your little spy friend, William Harrison! And if he was one of the best you had to offer, then you shouldn't even bother trying to fight us!" Seeing that the poison cloud was growing again, Theia sent a quick burst of infrared light towards Blaine to burn off the gas to allow her Radiance attack to continue to shower down upon him; leaving explosions in their wake as the needles continued to pour during his speech. Shocked at the fact that William had been kidnapped, Theia became determined to defeat the creature before her. "Your nation uses it's so called power to hurt innocent lives. What strength does it show to fight someone who cannot defend themselves?? It is not a fight. It is a coward showing that he can hold a sword to a baby's head and not fear retribution." Theia took a deep breath as the raining needles subsided, and light began to glow in both of her fists. "The man you captured, William, is not the best we have to offer. For although he was strong; he was alone. Now you have come to our home, and threaten our city? You have made a grave mistake. You may beat our bodies, but our hearts flow as one! The strength of every one of my friends flows within me, and gives me the strength to stop whatever foe crosses my path. Now you, and your nation, face the wrath of all of Dragon Gunfire!" Theia then put her hands together and unleashed a large shockwave that not only knocked away the debris in its path, but once the blast is over, large numerous lines interlinking with each other are drawn all over the surrounding area; giving the appearance of computer circuts. The lines shoot out beams of light targeting Blaine that explode on contact and anyone that gets near, gets blasted by a blinding flash, stopping their movement momentarily.Any attacks towards the drawn lines are quickly deflected by a barrier of light. Theia then used an a great deal of concentration to refract the light around the circuits, to make them appear invisible, but clearly seen by Theia who can sense the light particles position. "Light Dragon Secret Art: Light Circut!" Gods Amongst Men When the smoke cleared, Blaine was unharmed, but he hadn't defended from the blast himself. A blonde man with a ponytail had arrived, and he covered both of them in magical seals. "Master Hyperion," said Blaine astonished. "I swear I had this under control." "Clearly you didn't," said Hyperion, turning his attention towards Theia. "The message has been sent. If you want to find your friend, come find us in Othrys." He moved so fast that he was already striking Theia before she knew he had moved. He then flew over to where Herald and Chase were, kicking Chase out of the sky and into the ground. He grabbed Herald by the back of the shirt. "Come on, we're leaving." He flew over to Blaine and grabbed him as well, and the next thing they knew, the invaders were gone. Chase got up off the ground, barely scathed from his fall. Glancing around, he discovers his opponent has disappeared and begins to walk over to Theia. Finding that her opponent has left as well, he lets out a grunt of dissatisfaction. "What happened? I was fighting the guy and then suddenly I was kicked to the ground. As much as I'd like to say that I beat him, I doubt that was the case. I didn't get to see the person who kicked me, but I was able to catch his scent. Was he over here too?" Chase asks, looking around the area for any sign of the enemies. Recovering from the hit, Theia stood and let out a large huff. "Yeah he was. And I got to see a glance of him, bjt he was pretty quick. I can't believe William got himself captured..." Theia says as she clenches her fist with anger towards to men who just appeared. Hoping to pay them back for what they've done to her guild and her city. "That was Hyperion Lucis," said Aether as he walked up to them. "He is the strongest Mage of Othrys, serving directly under their king, Cronus Saturnalia. If he had decided to fight, you might not have survived. That information, and everything I know was given to me by William. He's been acting as a spy for years for the Magic Council. That's why he's often not at the guild. And because of this job he's been captured." "Don't worry Master, we will get him back. And Othrys will know what it means to mess with Dragon Gunfire!" Theia says with a determined expression. " We should probably go warn the rest of the guild...were you able to protect the townspeople?" She says as she turns to Aether. "Yes, I'll call back all the members of Dragon Gunfire. We're going to rescue William. I managed to save many of the civilians, thanks to you two, but even one casualty is too high. Othrys is going to pay."